A return of the Repco Supercars Championship to Perth has been given a boost with Western Australia announcing its border will reopen on March 3.
After a two-year hiatus, Wanneroo Raceway is set to host Supercars on April 30-May 1.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the championship has been locked out of Western Australia.
Now, Supercars is set to return soon with the state’s Premier Mark McGowan announcing restrictions will ease next month.
From 00:01 (local time) on March 3, interstate and international arrivals will be welcomed on the proviso they meet the state’s entry requirements.
For interstate arrivals, that includes having a registered G2G pass, being triple vaccinated if eligible, and returning a negative Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) upon arrival within 12 hours.
Any positive result must be reported.
International arrivals will also be welcomed as long as they meet Federal Government requirements to enter Australia and meet the aforementioned requirements.
Unvaccinated returnees will be required to complete hotel quarantine.
Testing arrangements will be in place for a minimum of two weeks and subsequently be reviewed.
All arrivals will be provided with one Rapid Antigen Test upon arrival to meet the interim testing requirements.
Western Australia had been set to reopen its borders earlier this year on February 5, but the impact of the Omicron variant prompted Premier McGowan to push back its plan.
“Proceeding with the original plan on February 5 would have been a complete unforced error,” he said.
“Instead we created a safe pathway for tens of thousands of Western Australians to come home.
“The omicron outbreak in the eastern states was a catastrophe and an emergency, so, therefore, we had to change the date.
“We changed the date and the extra month has given us the capacity to get hundreds and hundreds of thousands of West Australians their third dose, many thousands of children their third dose and avoid the peak in the eastern states.”
There had been some apprehension whether Supercars would venture west in 2022 given the hardline the state had taken to COVID-19.
Now, the door is open for Supercars to make its return in just over two months’ time.
Supercars last featured under lights at Wanneroo Raceway in 2019.